Thursday, January 29, 2009

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Green America, formerly Co-op America, is a not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to harnessing the economic power of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society. Here's their latest thinking:

Bold solutions from the green economy are the antidote to the broken economy...

While many name the mortgage and credit-default-swap crises as culprits, they
are only the most recent results of an economy with fatal design flaws. These
design defects range from a dependence on growth, consumerism, and the structure
of money to the short-term focus of today’s markets, and policy goals that are
focused on growing Gross National Product and cost externalization. These
systemic flaws create economic injustice, poverty, and irreversible
environmental devastation.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The green economy offers solutions that are
the antidote to the current breakdown. Green America members have been
trailblazers for green economic solutions for years. We now have a teachable
moment to be bold in stepping up with these solutions for long-term change
toward sustainability—and helping people through tough times. Green economy
solutions are more important than ever.

Have you ever had a puncture when the shops are shut and needed to buy an inner tube ?
This vending machine on the wall of a bike shop in Assen provides cyclists with a place to find a new inner tube 24 hours a day.
Provided, that is, that they know where it is (if you're taking notes, it's in Groningerstraat)

This is chainguard on the 2009 Lime series bikes, from the big T. This particular chainguard is also lime-colored, but the brightly colored portion is actually a removable applique (as are the lime-colored parts of the hub-covers and some other bits). Trek calls these large rubber bands Peelz(TM), and you can buy sets in a variety of colors. Presumably matching Trek's 2009 "casual cycling" clothing line and helmets.

I know it sounds like I'm mocking this feature, but actually I like it. If it gets someone on a bike, then it's got something going for it.
Now, there are real issues brushing up against Shimano's Coasting concept. They'll get a post of their own, I think.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

BicycleDesign.Blogspot.com is worth reading. It's written by an amateur bicycle designer (but a professional other-stuff designer) who watches the industry, finds lots of interesting and fun things, and writes about them.